What is your Fitness Plan?
Get ready to define your fitness plan before the summer is over.
Your exercise program should include something from each of four basic areas, and each day should begin with a warmup and end with a cooldown. Space your workouts throughout the week and try not to put in consecutive days of hard exercise.
Warmup:
A warmup is a 5 to 10 minute set of low-intensity exercise such as walking or general movement to get the muscles warmed up and elastic.
Muscular strength:
Two 20-minute sessions per week of weight training is the minimum for increasing strength. We like to alternate between leg and arm days.
Muscular endurance:
Three 30-minute sessions per week with such exercises as calisthenics, pushups, situps, pull-ups and weight training for all the major muscle groups.
Cardiorespiratory endurance:
At least three 20-minute sessions of continuous aerobic, rhythmic exercise each week, such as brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, jumping rope, rowing, cross-country skiing, etc. This can include riding your Pelton bike or hiking in the Santa Fe mountains.
Flexibility:
Ten to fifteen minutes of slow, non-bouncing daily stretching exercises can be included in your warmup and/or cooldown.
Cooldown:
Five to ten minutes of low-intensity exercise to cool your muscles down slowly to avoid injury.